There will be no stone left unturned for the Duke basketball team on Saturday night against Houston in the Final Four. Winner gets to play for a National Championship and the loser goes home.
The stakes are like any NCAA Tournament game but when you get this far, things are only more intense.
It’s not an unfamiliar matchup for the Blue Devils after playing the Cougars in the Sweet 16 last season and advancing to the Elite 8 with a 3-point victory but a lot has changed for the team in Durham since then. Only one player that had significant minutes in that game remains with the program, Tyrese Proctor, and Jon Scheyer has relied on freshmen to lead the way.
Cooper Flagg, the Associated Press Player of the Year, headlines the show with his sidekick Kon Knueppel while 7-foot-2 center Khaman Maluach patrols the paint. Scheyer put together a near perfect roster to get the team to this point and he is hoping that they can find a way to win two more games.
However, Duke must play one of its best games of the season in order to defeat Houston, who has the top ranked defense in the country according to KenPom, and three specific players really need to shine in order for the Blue Devils to play on Monday night.
Sion James
At the beginning of the Sweet 16 last season Duke looked overmatched and overwhelmed by the physicality and toughness of Houston. A lot changed in the game when Cougar guard Jamal Shead was injured in the first half with an ankle injury and couldn’t return.
The Blue Devils were able to claw themselves back in the game and make a run that couldn’t be answered.
Jon Scheyer responded to the idea that Duke needed to get tougher and added Tulane transfer Sion James, who has fit perfectly with this roster. Duke will need James’ toughness and physicality against Houston, specifically on the defensive end when trying to contain the guards of the Cougars. L.J. Cryer, Emanual Sharp, and Milos Uzan all average double-digit points per game and shoot over 40-percent from 3-point range.
If James isn’t physical on the defensive end of the floor and making things tough for those players to get clean looks, it could spell the end of the season for the Blue Devils.
Plus, Sion James has also been reliable on the offensive end of the floor for Duke, shooting 41.7-percent from 3-point range and his 16 points in the Sweet 16 on 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point territory were much needed.
Khaman Maluach
Every player on Houston is a grown man and no one better represents that than their center J’Wan Roberts.
Roberts is only listed at 6-foot-8, 235 pounds but he sometimes looks like he should be playing football instead of basketball when you watch him closely on the floor. He’s in his fifth year of college basketball and he hopes to use that experience to overcome his size disadvantage against Khaman Malauch.
Maluach has developed into a star in the NCAA Tournaments and has NBA scouts salivating at the idea of adding him to their roster next season. He’s averaging 11.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game in the tournament but more impressively shooting 87-percent from the floor.
He’s become unstoppable on pick-and-rolls and his ability to switch on the perimeter defensively has been a game changer for the Blue Devils, but will his inexperience show against the veteran Houston frontcourt?
If Khaman Maluach can dominate the paint like he did last weekend in Newark, Duke will be in the driver’s seat to play for a National Championship.
Tyrese Proctor
This is the moment Tyrese Proctor has waited for since returning to Duke for his junior season. He told Jon Scheyer he would be coming back in the bathroom after the Blue Devils lost to NC State in the Elite 8 last season and Proctor went 0-for-9 from the field in the loss.
Now he’s avenged his misfortunes and has a chance to advance to the National Championship. He’s been one of the best shooters in the NCAA Tournament in the last two weeks and similar to Sion James, Duke will need him to be at his best defensively against Houston’s backcourt.
Proctor was 13-of-16 from 3-point range during the first weekend of the tournament and 3-fof-9 in the second weekend, what version of him will Duke get in the Final Four and how effective will he be against the best defense in the country?
Tyrese Proctor must be the veteran leader for the Blue Devils that he has been all season in order to defeat the Cougars.